Then I looked

    and a white cloud appeared,

    and sitting on the cloud was
    One
    resembling the Son of Man,
    having a crown of gold upon His head
    and in His hand a sharp sickle.


    And another angel came out of the sanctuary,
    calling in a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud
    and saying  


    “Thrust in your sickle
    and reap the harvest,
    for the hour for reaping it has come:
    the harvest of the earth is over-ripe.”


    Then He who sat on the cloud flung
     His sickle on the earth,
    and the earth had its harvest reaped.



    Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

14:14  Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having
on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.

  • Sharp sickle – denoting His readiness to execute consummate vengeance upon His enemies (W)
  • Crown – garland of victory; not His diadem as a king (JFB)
  • The Son of man Himself, with a golden crown, is introduced in the harvest-gathering of the elect, a mere angel in
the ‘vintage’ (verses 18-20) (JFB)
  • Once again we are brought to the final judgment:  as in Matthew 13:39, ‘the harvest is the end of the age’.  In
Matthew 13:39, however, ‘the harvesters are angels’ sent by the Son of man to ‘weed out of His kingdom everything that
causes sin and all who do evil’; here the Son of man is himself the reaper, and his angel-servants are absent from the
picture (Z)

References:  Matthew 17:5; Psalm 21:3 (For Thou dost meet him with the blessings of good things; thou dost set a crown of fine gold on his
head); Revelation 1:13; 6:2

14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the
cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the
earth is ripe.”

  •  Indicating that the cup of their iniquity was now full, and the time of vengeance had come (W)
  • Thrust in – send – the angel does not command the “Son of man” but is the mere messenger announcing to the Son
the will of God the Father, in whose hands are kept the times and the seasons. (JFB)
  • God promises the harvest to be effective, that Israel is going to survive with a remnant and the power of God.  
  • By the harvest reaping the elect righteous are gathered out; by the ‘vintage’ the anti-christian offenders are removed
out of the earth, the scene of Christ’s coming kingdom (JFB)
  • A harvest is an emblem that sometimes signifies the cutting down of the wicked, and sometimes the gathering in of the
    righteous.  (MH)
  • The harvest work:  to thrust the sickle into the corn and reap the field (MH)
  • The harvest time:  when the corn is ripe – when the measure of the sin of men is filled up.  (MH)
  • The power of the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) is shown in that, with one thrust of His sickle, the harvest of the earth is
reaped.  This pictures one rapid succession of judgment, thus judgment is experienced by the inhabitants of the entire world.
(NCBC)

References:  Revelation 16:17; Joel 3:13 (Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.  Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—
for their wickedness is great); Jeremiah 51:33 (For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:  “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing
floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come); Mark 4:29 (But when the crop permits, he immediately
puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come); Matthew 13:39-41

14:16  So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

  • Thrust – sung – cast (NAS)